128 Technology was founded in 2014 to develop software-defined networking products. The startup has raised $66.7M in VC funding in three rounds of funding. Its named customers include Omada Technologies, Revation Systems, and TOKAI Communications.
We put 128 Tech’s VP of Marketing and Product Management on the hot seat to find out why 128 Technology believes they are the startup to disrupt the enterprise networking market.
(The answers below have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.)
Startup50: Why is the enterprise networking industry ripe for disruption?
Kevin Klett, VP of Marketing and Product Management for 128 Technology: The networking industry has gone through tremendous change in the last twenty years, but routed infrastructure has remained largely unchanged. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is merely a software version of the existing network and is ready for innovation.
S50: Zooming out, what is the biggest trend disrupting enterprise networking in general?
128 Tech: Open-source software is clearly the biggest disruptor. Open-source software will, in time, replace the world’s most popular databases (Oracle, Microsoft) and the world’s dominant IP routers (Cisco/Juniper).
More than half of the smart-phones in the world use open source operating systems, and virtually all public clouds are 100% open source. However, open-source software requires expert skills and support, and there isn’t one neck to choke when something goes wrong.
S50: What are the main obstacles that have prevented this industry from being disrupted already?
128 Tech: Most innovators in this industry are looking to work within the constraints of the existing network, so they haven’t built a solution that is capable of fixing the foundational routed infrastructure problems.
S50: Why are the constraints of existing networks a big problem?
128 Tech: Status quo networking is inadequate to serve the security and agility needs of the current business environment, especially in the new world of cloud and mobile.
S50: What’s your big vision for the future of your industry?
128 Tech: We see a future with more smart, secure, and dynamic router-based fabrics replacing today’s dumb, static and fragile packet-based networks.
S50: Why do you believe your startup is the one who can usher in this change?
128 Tech: We are the only fully software, Session Smart Routing (Secure Vector Routing) vendor, and a Session Smart Routed Fabric is uniquely suited to perform all the security, load balancing and routing requirements of today’s distributed, global networks.
We are also well funded, led by an experienced entrepreneurial executive team. We are unconstrained by existing technology and are leveraging a vibrant open-source community.
